


Triquetra

by TheLadyMuse



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: I hope, Its going to hurt like a supersoldier punch, M/M, also Supersoldier Rhodey, and Supersoldier Riley, for like three seconds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-09-24 16:43:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17104310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLadyMuse/pseuds/TheLadyMuse
Summary: nouna symmetrical triangular ornament of three interlaced arcs used on metalwork and stone crosses.





	Triquetra

 

The Winter Soldier growled at his subordinate. The Dark Horse scowled back, while the Stormwing looked sheepish. The three men were on a mission for their masters. Unfortunately, the Stormwing had nearly gotten them detected.

Dark Horse’s whiskey coloured eyes flicked over the skyline, lingering on a black obelisk in the distance. When they saw where he’d looked, the Winter Soldier and the Stormwing blinked at each other. Shaking his head, the Dark Horse moved carefully forward.

-

Dark Horse swore when he heard the black man on the street scream as Stormwing swooped down to lift the Soldier into the air for a better shot at the target. Cocking his gun, Dark Horse fired a round of scatter shots to draw the targets’ attention.

What Dark Horse didn’t know was that a camera caught a picture of his face.

And it would be the downfall of his team.

-

Tony whipped around when J.A.R.V.I.S. announced

“Sir, there was a sighting of Lieutenant Rhodes. He was working with an assassin facing off against Captain America and Mr. Wilson.”

Within minutes, Iron Man was soaring through the skies, Tony’s heart thumping in his chest. Rhodey had been missing for ten years, his body had never been found and this didn’t make any sense. Landing brought him face to face with a version of Steve and Sam he’d never seen before. Both were stunned, but where Steve was overjoyed and relieved that Bucky was alive, Sam was shocked that Riley had survived.

-

When he came to from the torture, Bucky knew who he was. Knew that he couldn’t hurt Steve, that because of his reaction, Riley’s old partner was in danger. Most probably, Rhodey’s Tony was in danger, too.

Pondering, Bucky decided it was time to break his subordinates out.

He was unlikely to ever recover much more, but if he did, it would be because his protégés had given him the information to piece together the mine field of his brain. And he’d probably never be able to go home, but a least Steve would be okay.

James ‘Dark Horse’ Rhodes and Riley ‘Stormwing’ Raines didn’t take any convincing to bust some heads. The three men efficiently slaughtered their captors before systematically ransacking the premises. It took little time and less effort for them to clear the area before moving to a different base.

A small Hydra safehouse, they stayed only long enough to get their bearings and plan their next move. Bucky was still exhausted, Rhodey was tense after seeing Iron Man respond to their assassination attempt and Riley was trying to forget the way Sam screamed when he saw him.

They’d had no idea that they were so missed.

Well, Bucky had suspected his men had homes to return to, but he hadn’t known until he was face to face with Steve that the man was happy to find him. It was… nice, but unsafe. Everything in all three men rebelled against putting the people they cared for in danger.

Rhodey and Riley were already determined to help Bucky eradicate Hydra but were thankful when he offered to help them find new identities at need. They both felt that although Bucky carried far more blood on his hands, they were the best bet to help him cope.

-

It starts with a kiss.

Sam’s been working with Steve and Tony for over a year to track Riley and his pals. It’s going as well as it can go, what with the chase being them tracking gutted Hydra bases. They’re all frustrated, even with Natasha and Clint tapping contacts, the Unholy Triad remains three steps ahead.

Until Palermo.

Riley, having lain in wait, jumps out of the shadows when Sam’s alone. He presses a hot, closed-mouthed kiss to Sam’s lips and orders

“Stop tracking us. You’ll only get hurt.” Before walking away.

Dazed from the kiss, hurting and needing, he found his team mates and told them the whole story. His anguish comes across clear, he knows it does, but Steve is probably being or playing dense and Tony is improbably tactful.

His heart doesn’t stop hurting.

-

Tony’s had to take a break from hunting down his best friend, and though he hates it, he knows he can’t shirk the company forever. Which is why he’s drinking in his suite in a hotel room in Amsterdam, sipping his first glass of Scotch.

When his hotel room door unlocks and opens, he gets up quickly, only to relax when Rhodey slides in. Tony opens his mouth and shuts it with a snap when the other man warns

“I have an hour at most.” Crossing the room to kneel as Tony retakes his seat, Rhodey begins

“I’m not Rhodey, not anymore, not really. Hydra beat it out of me within the first year. I became Dark Horse because that way, I could survive. The past year or so, Riley and Bucky have kept me as sane as I could hope for. Because…” Swallowing, Rhodey takes Tony’s hand and confesses

“I- When Hydra took me, they knew I loved you.” When Rhodey’s eyes meet Tony’s, the younger man is trembling. He’s quiet, so quiet. Keeping a hold of Tony’s hand, Rhodey brings up the other to carefully place it on Tony’s thigh. Tony’s still trembling when he nods in answer to the question in Rhodey’s eyes.

Carefully, gently, Rhodey opens Tony’s jeans, reaching his hands beneath the billionaire’s ass to pull down pants and boxers. Rhodey’s inhale has Tony stiffening in his arms and mouthing the tip of his cock has the man whimpering.

Quickly, skillfully, Rhodey uses his mouth to bring Tony to orgasm, swallowing cum easily. Tony’s still shaking from the high when Rhodey puts him to bed, lifting him with an ease he misses because Rhodey’s _here._

Whatever Rhodey says is lost to Tony’s post-orgasm fugue, not even the kiss to his forehead shaking him out of it. Slipping back into his Dark Horse persona, Rhodey exits the hotel room the way he came, trusting Riley’s hack job to keep him off the cameras.

Tony spends a week swinging between blackout drunk and crying his eyes out, it hurts so much.

-

After receiving much edited versions of what happened in Palermo and Amsterdam, Steve half-hopes for, half fears Bucky visiting him. He wants to see him, badly. But he also wants to bring him home, wants to hold his best friend until he’ll stay.

Unlike his compatriots, however, Bucky’s had time to learn, to plan. So, while Riley and Rhodey are untangling a main Hydra server, Bucky’s visiting the President, blackmailing and bribing the man into making it possible for his men to go home. While he appreciates the help, knows that they know his position intimately, they still belong to this century.

Sure, they have some of the ‘improved’ versions of the serum- he’s been injected with so many he’s lost count- but they can still have their friends, their lovers, if they play this right.

Which means he has the time to swing by the Brooklyn apartment Steve keeps, screw the best friend he’s ever had for an entire night and leave a brief letter before heading to Canada. He has a mercenary or two to track down.

Steve feels both better and worse, the morning after.

-

The in-absentia exoneration of the Triad makes waves. Bucky’s press release about Team Winter’s mission to take down Hydra is a shock. Rhodey and Riley are among the seven men who sign the Declaration of Intent, and it’s…

It’s good, that they want to atone for the wrongs they were forced to enact.

But it hurts, that they’ve decided to remain isolated until Hydra is gone.

-

Despite his irritation with his subordinates, Bucky appreciates that they want to help him. He knows that they’re running from their pasts, from the awkward questions that will come from not visibly aging. He still knows they could have gone underground, could’ve done a hundred other things.

It doesn’t stop him from stashing a bleeding, exhausted Rhodey in Stark Tower Infirmary and then knocking out Riley to leave him on Sam’s bed. Wade’s gone to track down his little spider friend, Logan’s upstate at the school, dragging Rasputin and his own oddly compliant older brother.

All of which means dropping in on Steve for a few days is ridiculously easy.

Leaving is not, but… Bucky’s tarnished Steve’s life enough. One last visit to really say goodbye is just closure, right? Logan and the others are done their contract, Riley and Rhodey have lives to pick up as best they can, so it’s time for Bucky to fade into the wider world.

He didn’t realize that his men would follow him.

-

Slipping away from New York is hard.

Riley may help Rhodey murder their leader this time, not that the stubborn ass would stay dead.

It’s not that he doesn’t still love Sam.

He does, a lot.

But his head is fucked up. Sam deserves better.

And…

And, well, Riley’s not sure he knows how to be with someone, anyone, for more than sex.

Despite a weekend of kisses and cuddles, of a hot, sweaty romp with Sam keening beneath him, he’d had to leave. Had explained as he held this man that he treasured that he couldn’t stay, didn’t trust himself as much as he loved Sam.

Somehow, Sam had understood. Had accepted Riley’s panic and fear.

-

Tony is pissed off.

Rhodey had slipped out of the infirmary, and, Raines in tow, deserted New York.

Why? Why wouldn’t Rhodey stay? What was so wrong with Tony that he didn’t want to?

 

It’s Sam, who sets him and Steve straight, breaking their hearts in the process.

-

Three years after decimating most of Hydra, and all is well.

As well as can be expected, anyway.

Rhodey, Riley and Bucky have settled down on an English estate. Mostly for the privacy but also because it’s got space for a small quinjet type vehicle. It’s been loaned to them by Maria Falsworth, granddaughter of Monty, while she’s out of the country.

Aside from semi-frequent trips to crush the latest Hydra activity, their days are spent sparring, keeping up the house and occasionally making a trip stateside to help Wade or Logan and his people with whatever problem is going on currently.

After agreeing to a new line of Bucky Bears (on the condition that there be two versions, each with a set of ‘friends’), Bucky’s not strapped for cash. Riley, being a grandson of Dum Dum himself, once again has access to his property as a Dugan heir. With Rhodey rounding them out as a grandnephew of Gabe Jones, there’s usually a few other Legacies around, asking for training or help or just stories of their forefathers.

Bucky’s happy to share as his memory comes back and is even happier to hear that the Carters aren’t sharing his location with Sharon, who would pass it to Steve, probably. Riley and Rhodey are also happy they’re uncompromised, but there’s days when all three will stare into space or be distracted for a bit.

When they’ve dealt with the majority of their trauma, are no longer screaming awake every night, Maria decides she wants her house back. Her plan is simple: put an ad up in Times Square, stir, and wait for it boil.

She probably should have mentioned she’s a tenth generation Lokean on her mothers’ side.

Ooops.

-

When he sees it, Steve can’t believe it.

It’s an ad, in Times Square.

A huge picture of three men on a sofa, probably joking, takes up most of the space.

It’s Bucky (and Rhodey and Riley). He- They’re relaxed, in a stylish room. Despite the photo being centered on them, it’s easy to see other people on the edges of the frame. It’s well-lit, they look well fed and dare he say it, happy. The text beneath it is kind of shocking, though.

FOUND

Three American super-soldiers

(Their family is tired of the pining. Will their owners collect them?)

Contact: Maria.Falsworth@HowlingCommandos.net

It takes three of the longest hours they’ve ever sat through for Maria to reply. Her breezy answer is both comforting and infuriating. Of course they’re okay, and of course Steve, Tony and Sam can visit, but they’re not actually going to keep them if they don’t want to be kept.

-

Devon Philips loves his wife.

It’s deep in his bones, just like any other Legacy. Love, loyalty, faith- they’re descended of the greatest men their nations have offered in a long time. He’s army, just like every other man in his family. Maria isn’t. She’s a Falsworth, proud and strong, but an Olympic sniper rather than in service.

He prefers it like this. His Maria is a spitfire and a hellcat, but she’s still the kind, gentle woman who kissed him, held him, after his first tour. He’s dirtied his hands for their country, but Maria’s never turned from him for it.

So he knows.

As much as the Triad want to protect their loves, those same loves would rather have them than safety.

It’s why he tranqs them all when the Captain is in the vicinity and puts them to bed.

(He wants to have sex sometime this year, give him a break)

-

Rhodey is kind of groggy once he shakes off the tranquilizer. That damn bastard, Devon had threatened to shoot him with the darts if he wouldn’t stop hogging Maria’s attention. Guess he’d had enough. Rolling his hips on a sigh, Rhodey rolls over to bask in the laziness only to freeze when hears a hitched breath. An inhale brings a familiar scent to his nose, and when he glances over his shoulder, he sees Tony dozing in a chair by the bed.

Shit.

Jerking up with another curse wakes Tony, who jumps, notices he’s awake and breathes

“Rhodey.” Easing back against the headboard, Rhodey quirked his lips, patted the mattress beside him, and said

“I have so many stories to tell you.” Tony practically jumps on him, curling into his side and soaking in everything Rhodey tells him. The touch, the tone, it’s enough for now.

-

It’s hard to believe, but Sam has Riley back. For real, this time. As thrilled as he is, as much as he’s come to grips with Riley’s trauma, there are still days when he nearly panics, thinking it’s a dream. That he’ll wake and Riley’s still on the run, or worse, that he died and his capture by Hydra was the dream. But he always finds Riley before he panics.

-

Even with the metal arm, Bucky makes Steve believe he’s real for the first time since he came out of the ice.

 

**Author's Note:**

> **PREVIEW**
> 
> _All of the King’s men_
> 
> Following a Winter Soldier AU (where Bucky is captured by strangers), Sharon Carter activates the Legacy Protocol. Every Howling Commando Legacy- including Legatus James Barnes IV and Riley (Dugan) Raines- travels to New York.
> 
> Intrigue, anyone?


End file.
